For period A-198, which ran Sept. 21 to Nov. 15, 2025, the allocation of chicken was set at eight per cent above the base, marking the highest such allocation of chicken in the history of Chicken Farmers of Canada.

That followed other healthy allocations earlier in the spring and summer of 2025, at two per cent in June and July and five per cent above base from the end of July to September.

RELATED: Egg Farmers of Canada sees more hens, greater egg demand in 2025

Chicken Farmers of Ontario reports there were numerous signals that supported the continued growth in chicken production, including an increase in import requests, which meant there was more needed supply in the domestic market.

Strong retail and foodservice demand, low inventories and near-record wholesale prices were supporting the increase in chicken.

Continued strong prices for other meats, including beef, also increased demand for more-affordable chicken.

Those strong fundamentals helped the aggressive setting of 7.5 per cent above base for the end of 2025 and early 2026, even though that’s a time of year when chicken demand is lower.

Despite the higher opportunity to fill chicken demand, the industry has been challenged to get it filled, says the Chicken Farmers of Ontario annual report.

Hatching egg and chick supplies have been constrained and some disease pressure have also limited the supply across the country.

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“This vote represents an historic opportunity for Ontario’s dairy goat producers to unify under a structure that reflects their unique needs,” said Natalie Miltenburg, chair, Ontario Dairy Goat Co-operative, in the release. “We are proud to have worked alongside industry partners to bring this proposal forward, ensuring our sector’s voice is heard and our future is secure.”

There has been a nearly 50 per cent growth in the productivity of the Ontario dairy goat industry since 2017, with 198 Grade A farms producing 60 million litres of milk a year.

Ontario dairy goat producers account for 90 per cent of Canada’s goat milk production. The proposed Dairy Goat Farmers of Ontario won’t manage production quotas or establish fixed pricing for goat milk, but will advocate for inclusion in provincial programs, support research and producer education, and promote consumer awareness.

It will focus on several key industry priorities, including regulatory and policy advocacy and representation; development of a provincial Business Risk Management; ongoing cost-of-production studies; research; producer education tools; and consumer education and outreach.

The initial consultation and the formal application petition show strong producer support for the DGFO, with additional consultation sessions through November and December to ensure producers are educated and have an opportunity to ask questions and share perspectives ahead of the anticipated Expression of Opinion vote.

“The Commission’s decision to conduct an Expression of Opinion Vote validates the hard work and vision of our producers,” said Jeff Smith, chair, Gay Lea Foods’ Goat Producer Advisory Committee, in the release. “A local board will provide the tools and stability needed to ensure long-term sustainability and growth for the dairy goat industry in Ontario.”

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The Dairy Direct Payment Program (DDPP), which issued $1.75 billion over four payments from 2019 to 2023 to compensate for the Canada-European Union (CETA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade pacts, this year begins to roll out $1.2 billion over 2023 to 2029 to compensate for the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

The plan for CUSMA compensation for supply-managed sectors was first laid out in broad strokes last November.

One significant difference announced Tuesday for this segment of the DDPP is that dairy producers must hold a valid dairy quota licence registered with a provincial milk marketing board or agency on Aug. 31 to be eligible for a payment in a given year.

Previous DDPP program years had used an Oct. 31 calculation date. The government noted Tuesday that this change has been made “in consultation with industry.”

Since the calculation date affects the opening of the program registration period, setting the date earlier in the year “will ensure producers have more time to sign up before the deadline and may receive their payment sooner.”

The registration period for the fifth payment is expected to open this fall of 2023. Eligible producers must register before March 31, 2024, the government said.

Those producers can expect letters from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in the fall with registration details. Payments would follow once a producer completes the registration, AAFC said Tuesday.

Setting the new quota reference date for the DDPP will ensure producers “have the necessary information further in advance to be able to plan and evaluate their farm situation,” federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in Tuesday’s release.

Sustainability research

Bibeau on Tuesday also announced an unrelated funding envelope of over $7.5 million for Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) from the federal AgriScience Program – Clusters Component.

AgriScience — a federally funded program under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (S-CAP) — will back DFC for research into “solutions to improve the environmental and economic sustainability, and resilience of the Canadian dairy industry.”

To that end, the government said, DFC is to develop and implement plans to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and sequester carbon, and to improve the health and welfare of cows and the quality of milk produced.

Outcomes in the former area are expected to help the industry hit DFC’s previously stated goal of reaching net-zero GHG emissions from dairy production by 2050. Research in the latter areas, meanwhile, will include antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance in dairy cattle, genetic improvements in cattle, and “eco-efficient” dairy processing.

DFC president Pierre Lampron said in a separate release that the funding is “essential to enable strong, robust and evidenced-based research material that ultimately helps dairy farmers increase the efficiency of their farms.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Sept. 27 announced Shikha Jain will be the CDC’s commissioner for a four-year term effective Sept. 15.

Jain, who lives at Guelph, is the CEO for GET Corp., a green tech firm focused on conversion on dairy farms’ organic wastes to renewable natural gas.

A former chief administrative officer for Dairy Farmers of Ontario and CEO for Career Colleges Ontario, Jain “brings extensive experience in strategic and operational planning and is recognized as a trusted and collaborative leader,” the federal government said in a release.

“There is no doubt that Shikha Jain’s extensive experience in strategic planning and sustainability in the dairy industry will be assets for the Canadian Dairy Commission,” Bibeau said in the same release.

“Her guidance will be valuable as the CDC is moving forward with the government’s agenda to advance innovation and (greenhouse gas) emissions reduction.”

The commission is tasked with co-ordinating federal and provincial dairy policies; it administers support prices for butter and skin milk powder and the national marketing quota.

Jain’s appointment fills the vacancy on the CDC’s three-member board of directors, after the appointment of Benoit Basillais as the commission’s new CEO this summer and former commissioner Jennifer Hayes as CDC chair late last year.

CDC governance was flagged in a special report from the federal auditor general’s office in March last year, calling on the commission’s board to keep in touch with the ag minister’s office on a “timely basis” to make sure its board table is fully occupied.

That report found no board meetings had to be cancelled or any decisions left unresolved, but nevertheless, having an empty chair at a three-member board table “poses a significant risk that the board would be unable to make decisions and operate effectively,” the auditor general’s office said at the time.

That poses a risk particularly for the CDC. Its requirement for members to have “significant dairy industry experience” — with one member also serving as CEO — makes it somewhat more likely that a “real, potential or perceived” conflict of interest could pop up, requiring at least one member to abstain from voting on certain decisions. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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At a Chicken Farmers of Canada meeting Tuesday, national allocation for quota period A-165 (Aug. 30 to Oct. 24, 2020) was set at minus two per cent from its adjusted base. That translates to a total allocated chicken volume of 188,169,106 kg (eviscerated), nationally, for the period.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, CFC and its provincial counterparts have been grappling with reduced processing capacity and volatile consumer demand, including spikes due to retail panic buying and drop-offs from the near-closure of Canada’s restaurant and foodservice sectors.

The relatively small cut announced Tuesday follows adjustments in April of minus 13 per cent nationally for periods A-163 (May 10 to July 4) and A-164 (July 5 to Aug. 29) from the base for those periods, so as to “reduce production and address the concerns of our value chain partners,” CFC said.

The cut for A-164 was then revised upward slightly in May, to minus 12 per cent, based on what CFC described as “a slight increase of demand by foodservice, as some companies begin the reopening process.”

After an “initial surge” in the wake of the COVID-related isolation measures set up across Canada in March, demand for chicken weakened, Chicken Farmers of Ontario said Tuesday in a separate release.

Now, however, consumer demand “appears to have rebounded to a great extent, albeit at different rates for different product types and consumer channels,” CFO said.

CFO said its latest recommendation “was framed on a public policy of ‘balanced best interest’ upon weighing the various factors, perspectives and dynamics resulting from the pandemic.”

Volume allocation for quota period A-166 (Oct. 25 to Dec. 19) is expected to be set at CFC’s board meeting next month, CFO said. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The plan would require an unspecified increase in the amount of ethanol that oil refiners must add to their fuel in 2020, and would also aim to remove further barriers to the sale of higher ethanol blends of gasoline like E15, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in a statement.

“President Trump’s leadership has led to an agreement that continues to promote domestic ethanol and biodiesel production, supporting our nation’s farmers and providing greater energy security,” EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler said.

The deal is widely seen as an attempt by President Donald Trump to mend fences with the powerful corn lobby, which was outraged by the EPA’s decision in August to exempt 31 oil refineries from their obligations under the RFS. This freed the refineries from the requirement to blend biofuels or buy credits from those who do.

Biofuel companies, farmers and Midwest lawmakers complained that the waivers undercut demand for corn, which is already slumping due to the U.S. trade war with China. Oil refiners say the waivers protect blue-collar jobs and have no real impact on ethanol use.

Senators from Iowa, the nation’s biggest ethanol producing state, welcomed the move.

“The President heard that message and has acted on it” Republican Senator Joni Ernst said in a statement. “Our message was clear: uphold the RFS —15 billion means 15 billion,” Ernst, who was instrumental in putting together the deal, said.

The rules, which will be finalized after a period of public comment, would “ensure that more than 15 billion gallons of conventional ethanol be blended into the nation’s fuel supply beginning in 2020,” the EPA said, without giving an exact number. Any changes to blending volume mandates for 2020 under the U.S. biofuel law, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), must be finalized by Nov. 30.

Before Friday’s proposal, the EPA had called for the refining industry to add 20.04 billion gallons of biofuels, including 15 billion gallons of ethanol, into their fuel in 2020. The Trump administration had also already provided a boost to E15 earlier this year, by lifting an Obama-era ban on its sale during summer months.

While the move was largely welcome by biofuel groups, some industry players said they were concerned that the EPA declined to provide an exact figure for the 2020 blending quotas. A brief EPA call with reporters offered little insight, with an agency official saying only that the mandates will be based on a calculation of waived volumes over the previous three years.

Tim Gannon, a farmer from Iowa and a former official with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was skeptical.

“It is very much in question whether this gets done by 2020,” he said. “Every time the President makes a promise on the RFS, his EPA administrator manages to roll it back for Big Oil… The question now is will this time be any different?”

Oil industry upset

Oil companies have consistently resisted measures to expand the biofuels market, which they view as a competitor. Refiners have vehemently complained that the requirements under the RFS cost them a fortune. Their weeks-long efforts to include oil-friendly measures in the final deal announced Friday failed.

“We are deeply concerned about the administration’s decision to, once again, play politics with our fuel system by increasing an already onerous biofuel mandate, placing greater strain on the U.S. manufacturers he promised to protect and threatening higher costs for consumers,” the American Petroleum Institute and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers industry groups said in a joint statement.

Trump waded into the issue early in his presidency after representatives of the refining industry complained about the high costs of compliance, seeking to tap into his administration’s support for rolling back regulation.

Trump’s EPA had since vastly expanded its use of the provision allowing small refining facilities to seek waivers if they can prove compliance would cause them disproportionate financial hardship.

Reuters has reported that small facilities owned by oil majors such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron Corp. have been among the facilities securing recent exemptions.

U.S. biofuel credits traded at 27 cents each on Friday following the announcement, up from 23.50 cents each on Thursday, traders said. However, the credits came off highs as the market sought clarity on the plan’s details.

— Reporting for Reuters by Humeyra Pamuk and Stephanie Kelly; writing by Richard Valdmanis.

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The compensation follows promises by the Trudeau government — and the Harper government before it — that dairy farmers would be compensated in some form for the loss of market.

Why it matters: The program will put $1.75 billion into the hands of dairy farmers over the next eight years, money that’s expected to help them adapt to changing market conditions.

The program is worth $1.75 billion and will compensate farmers for the close to five per cent of the dairy market given up in the Comprehensive Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) deal and the CETA trade deal between Canada and Europe.

A previous program, designed to aid farmers with technology adoption to help adapt to the CETA trade agreement with Europe, was heavily criticized because the only farmers who got funding were those with a current technology project underway, had the connections to get the applications in quickly and who had a bit of luck.

Many farmers looking for funds from that $250 million program did not get them. About 3,300 dairy farmers got funds from the program.

The new program aims to fund every farm, with payments expected to flow through the Canadian Dairy Commission and to be issued “in proportion to (farmers’) quota held.”

The payments to be made in the first year are budgeted to take up $345 million from the $1.75 billion funding envelope.

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau made the announcement Friday at a Compton, Que. dairy farm.

“As promised, the compensation is deployed fully and fairly to allow everyone to make the best decisions based on the new market realities and their respective situations,” she said.

Dairy farmers will be compensated depending on the size of their farm.

Farmers who milk 80 cows, for example, will receive a direct payment of $28,000 in the first year, for a total first year payment of $345 million.

The federal government said it “will continue to work with the Dairy Farmers of Canada to determine terms and conditions for future years.”

DFC said Friday’s pledge lines up with the recommendations of the working group of dairy farmer, processor and government representatives following the recent signing of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico (CUSMA) trade agreement.

“There is no doubt that conceding part of our domestic dairy market has had a major impact on the livelihoods of dairy producers,” DFC president Pierre Lampron said in a separate release Friday.

“While we are grateful for today’s announcement, we would have preferred no concessions to our domestic dairy production,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “has made another commitment: no further concessions would be made to our domestic dairy market in future trade negotiations,” Lampron added. “Our expectation is that he will keep that commitment as well.”

Bibeau on Friday “also reiterated the government’s commitment to the other supply-managed sectors,” the government said in its release.

Federal Conservative agriculture critic Luc Berthold on Friday described the Liberal government’s plan as “a cheque for the elections for milk producers, nothing for egg and poultry producers, and no firm commitment for direct compensation after 2019.”

The government, he said on Twitter, has “waited four years to deliver to producers a plan that the Conservatives announced four years ago… and waited until the eve of the election to make the announcement.”

— John Greig is editor of Farmtario.

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The EU has in place a series of tariff rate quotas, allowing agricultural producers such as the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and Latin American countries to export a certain amount of live animals, meat, dairy and other produce free of tariffs.

Britain’s planned exit, however, means those quotas must be split between Britain and the 27 countries that will remain in the European Union.

In 51 pages, the EU regulation lists products from the 11,500 tonnes of beef from the U.S. and Canada, for which the EU27 will take on 99.8 per cent, to the 228,389 tonnes of New Zealand lamb, which will be split 50-50.

The splits, which also cover fish, wood and certain metals, have been calculated based on actual trade flows over a three-year period.

The European Union needs to negotiate the new allocations with other World Trade Organization members with a substantial interest. The preamble to regulation said that such negotiations may not be concluded given the short time period available — Britain is set to leave the EU on March 29.

However, many of those WTO members have expressed concerns and some question whether the 2013-2015 period is typical.

In cases where the EU quota is 100 per cent, such as Australian cheddar or Argentine garlic, these products could not be sold to Britain tariff-free.

The U.S., Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, New Zealand and Thailand complained in a letter in 2017 that reports about how the quotas would be split risked leaving them worse off because they would lose the flexibility they currently have to sell to any country in the European Union, including Britain, depending on where the price or demand is highest.

— Reporting for Reuters by Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels.

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The Commission, which negotiates on behalf of the 28 EU nations, said it would open formal talks in the coming days on increasing the U.S. share of an existing 45,000-tonne quota. It concerns beef that has not been treated with certain growth hormones.

The Commission said it would do so in the coming days.

The beef issue is not part of EU-U.S. talks designed to improve transatlantic trade ties and remove tariffs on industrial goods following an agreement by U.S. President Donald Trump not to impose import duties on EU cars.

“Nevertheless, finding a mutually beneficial solution to our longstanding dispute over beef would be a major step forward in improving our trade cooperation,” the Council, which speaks on behalf of the EU’s members, said.

The dispute dates back to 1981 when the European Union banned the use of growth hormones in meat across the bloc, including imports, prompting a U.S. complaint at the World Trade Organization.

The EU and the U.S. eventually concluded an agreement in 2009 to grant a quota for hormone-free beef imports. However, under WTO rules, the quota also had to be made available to non-U.S. suppliers.

The U.S. share of that quota has slipped to less than 30 per cent in the year to the end of June, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). Australia and Uruguay, and more recently Argentina, have steadily increased their shares.

The Commission may also need to negotiate with them to ensure that they accept lower shares of the quotas.

— Reporting for Reuters by Philip Blenkinsop.

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Canada says it does not feel bound by a U.S.-imposed deadline for the end of September to conclude a deal.

While multiple deadlines have been and gone during the more than year-long negotiations to renew NAFTA, pressure on Canada to agree to a deal is growing, partly to push it through Congress before Mexico’s new government takes office on Dec. 1.

Trump, who struck a side deal with third NAFTA member Mexico last month, has threatened to exclude Canada if necessary. He also warned of tariffs on Canadian auto exports.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland has held talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in each of the last four weeks and on Thursday opened another round.

A senior Canadian labour leader briefed on the negotiations told Reuters that an immediate breakthrough was unlikely.

“We’ve made progress according to the briefing I got but of course there is no agreement and there are some predictable issues that need to be resolved,” said Hassan Yussuff, president of the Canadian Labour Congress.

Yussuff said a standoff over how to settle disputes was “a critical issue.” The two sides are also at odds over U.S. demands for more access to Canada’s dairy market.

The uncompromising tone by Trump, who came to power last year threatening to tear up NAFTA unless major changes were made to a pact he blames for the loss of manufacturing jobs, has stoked market fears about the potential damage to three nations’ highly integrated economies.

The Globe and Mail on Thursday reported that U.S. negotiators want Ottawa to agree to capping its auto exports to the U.S. at 1.7 million vehicles a year, something that Canadian industry sources dismissed as unacceptable.

“Canada absolutely … would not agree to a self-imposed quota,” said a source familiar with the talks.

Separately, a Canadian source directly familiar with the negotiations said “we have not discussed a cap.”

As part of the bilateral deal between Mexico and the U.S., the Mexican side agreed to limit its exports of autos and SUVs.

Freeland plans to return to Canada on Thursday ahead of a two-day meeting of female foreign ministers she is co-hosting in Montreal on Friday and Saturday. Next week she will be in New York for a United Nations session.

— David Ljunggren is a Reuters political correspondent based in Ottawa; additional reporting by Dave Graham in Mexico City and Allison Lampert in Montreal.

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